This first year contest had a beautiful setting, downtown and on the yacht basin. As usual I was the last to come in, having to work a full day Friday. Being last-in paid off at this contest, I believe I got the prime spot.

The contest went well on my end, although I thought pork and brisket could have been better. And according to the judge’s scores I was right. I was blessed with a 2nd in chicken and ribs, a 5th in pork and a 6th in brisket. That was just good enough to land Grand Champion for the contest.

I will be donating a $500 seat in my Calhoun GA Q School class. My 14 year old daughter is working on her Silver Award, the highest achievement for Girl Scout Cadettes. They are helping 2 local groups that help homeless and low income babies here in Winter Haven. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Scouts, who will donate 100% to The Mission (lovemakingadifference.com) and The Pregnancy Center (lifechoicepregnancycenter.com).

I’ve been getting a lot of requests for a FL Q School again so I did some looking and found 1 available weekend – May 31-June 1. It’s coming up fast so put in for time off and send in your application.

**I just noticed the wrong dates are on the application about two-thirds of the way down. Correct dates are May 31 – June 1.**

With a 5th chicken, 7th ribs, 1st pork and 11th brisket, Swamp Boys was able to secure another top 5 overall finish with a 4th overall in Stuart FL April 26th. I think I finally know the tweak to make to brisket to get it back up where it belongs. It’s been holding me down for too long. We will see this weekend at the IPC Invitational.